To march or skip?

Gen. Colin Powell is "a black man used to taking instructions" from the government.

O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden is a man who "allowed himself to be used."

That's what Christopher X, a minister from the Nation of Islam, told his audience Monday afternoon when he asked them to consider why these black men have been embraced by mainstream society.

While Christopher X had harsh words for Darden, there was nothing but praise for Simpson defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran.

"[Cochran's] a beautiful black brother ... masterful in his use of language," he said to an estimated 100 people in Jack Adams Hall.

Flanked by two NOI members, Christopher X also asked SF State students not to attend classes Oct. 16 in support of the Million Man March in Washington D.C.

"Don't go to school or work or to the malls. Respect our holy day," he said.

The march, organized by NOI leader Louis Farrakhan and former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Executive Director Ben Chavis, is expected to bring African American men from all over the country to the nation's capital in the biggest demonstration since the Vietnam War era.

"We've got the million, we're working on two million," Christopher X said.

Marcus Turner, member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity which brought Christopher X to campus, said he will definitely not attend classes because "it's a day that's special."

Troy Buckner-Nkrumah, spokesperson and member of the Pan African Student Union, said he has encouraged other members of PASU not to attend classes Oct. 16.

He plans to organize a get-together at a park in West Oakland with students from other colleges in the Bay Area that day.

Christopher X said the event will allow black men to unite and acknowledge responsibility for themselves and their families.

"We go in a spirit of atonement," he said. "Many fathers have abandoned their responsibilities. When the man is taken out of the community, the woman becomes vulnerable."

The event has been criticized by some black activists because the marching will be limited to men.

Christopher X pointed out that black female activists such as Rosa Parks will be speaking at the event.

"Our sisters are backing us up," he said.

Several female NOI members said they did not feel excluded from the march, and that it was an opportunity for black men to take their rightful place.

During his 90-minute speech, he told his largely African American audience to study subjects like physics, math and business in college.

"Your people don't need theory, they need practicality," he said.

Everyone who came to see Christopher X had to undergo a thorough body search before entering the auditorium.

Frederick Woods, a senior majoring in international relations, said the search did not surprise him.

"The issues that the Nation of Islam deals with warrant such protectionary measures," Woods said.

Christopher X, who has spoken on campus before, toned down some of his rhetoric from past semesters.

In April 1994, a month before the Malcolm X Mural was unveiled with what many perceived as anti-Semitic symbols, Christopher X told an audience of 300 that Jews control Paramount Studios, 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc. and Warner Brothers, and that Hollywood is responsible for the stereotypical images of many minority groups.

He also asked last year why "we cry over the death of Jews in Germany, in a foreign country? What about the death of the blacks in the Congo, in the Spanish-American War, Korean War, Vietnam War and Desert Storm? That's the real Holocaust."

On Monday, he avoided any mention of Jews except to criticize the Anti-Defamation League for its assertion that NOI leader Farrakhan is anti-Semitic.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization that protects the reputation of Jews and Jewish culture, placed an ad in the New York Times last week that said, while they supported the goals of the march, "[it] will be the largest event led by an anti-Semite in recent American history."

[ Golden Gater Online October 5, 1995 ]

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